The first time I saw the trailer of Mga Dayo I felt moved by the trailer since somehow I felt connected because my parents were a former overseas Filipino worker. Mga Dayo directed by Julius Sotoyomar Cena made a story out of the “green card marriage”-which genuinely happens in contemporary.
Alex (Sue Prado) is getting betrothed for the sake of the green card, suddenly the guy he supposed to marry with left her in the wedding day, which is the indication that she’s unable to possess a green card. Miriam (Janela Buhain) has a conflict with her husband and got separated with her after she got the green card. Ella (Olga Natividad) already have a green card and she’s able to bring her mother to see the scenic places of the foreign land. All in all, these three ladies in the midst of thanksgiving in other country shows the struggles and stakes they provoke just to be able to attain a card that will give hope and to achieve their dreams that they won’t render in our own country- Philippines.
The film tackles the reality; We Filipinos find the life we wanted not in our own country, but in the leading countries, and the film presents the slice of life.. The colonial mentality is evidently presented, and the ways of survival is intertwine in the message of the film; the marriage is used to be able to get the benefit of green card. Divorce is done when the agreements have accomplished.
The film elaborates the living of a Filipino living in the far away land working, spending the pain of isolation away from the family just to sustain the needs, and to feed the hunger of each family member awaiting in the Philippines.
-Eunice Ondillo (Abmc-202A)
